An 11-year-old boy died yesterday in the second fatal accident this week involving Britons on winter sports holidays abroad.

Benjamin Trichler crashed into a tree while skiing on a blue, intermediate, run at a resort in the Colorado Rockies. He received attention at the scene after an emergency call at about 9.30am local time but was later pronounced dead at a medical centre in the resort of Breckenridge.

The local coroner’s office said that his death was caused by a “closed head injury” and that although he had been wearing a helmet it was not one that was approved for skiing. No one else was involved in the accident.

Breckenridge was founded in 1859 as a goldmining town but is now regarded as a world-class ski resort. At 2,926 metres, it is higher than most European resorts and is home to the highest chairlift in North America.

Benjamin, of Uffington, Oxfordshire, who had twin sisters, was a pupil at the Uffington Church of England Primary School, where his mother, Joanne, is a teaching assistant. The family were said to be very involved in activities of their local church, St Mary’s. Benjamin’s father, Grant, is a church warden and works as an engineer.

Sharon Smith, a local councillor who worked with Mrs Trichler at the school, said that the family were very respected in the community.

“Obviously we are very upset. This is a small village so the whole community will be devastated by what has happened,” she added.

The boy’s death came after that of a British woman who was killed after falling 150 metres while snowboarding in the German Alps.

Polish-born Monika Davis had lived with her British husband, Matthew, in the village of Coton in the Elms, Derbyshire. The 35-year-old self-employed accountant, who was a British passport holder, became separated from him and some friends after she strayed away from marked slopes, according to police in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.

She fell down a rocky pit and sent a text message to a friend asking for help. The group, who had not seen Mrs Davis since lunchtime on Tuesday, called the police.

Her frozen body was found on Wednesday morning after a search involving two helicopters and mountain rescuers.

A police spokesman said that the SMS message had sparked the search but added: “Evidently her mobile phone was switched off after that – it’s likely that the battery was empty – otherwise it might have been used to navigate her position much earlier.

“Even if she had survived the fall, it is unlikely that she would have survived the temperatures, between -15 and -20 degrees [5F and -4F].”

Rescuers found the snowboard used by Mrs Davis when the search resumed hours later, leading them to her body in a deep canyon.

The spokesman added: “The woman had wandered into the high alpine area, normally the preserve of professionals. At this point you can only fall, due to the steepnesss. Why she wandered we don’t know. Possibly she was driven by curiousity, then she became disorientated and it was dark and cold.”

Mrs Davis and her husband had spent several holidays in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, one of the most popular skiing regions in Germany, and had been in the town for eight days on this occasion. After going out to snowboard on New Year’s Day, she had separated from the group, possibly to find more challenging ground.

High risk

— Michael Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, died in 1997 when he crashed into a tree on a Colorado slope

— Sonny Bono, the California congressman and former partner of Cher, died in 1998 when he hit a tree while skiing

— Major Hugh Lindsay, one of the Prince of Wales’s closest friends, was killed in an avalanche while skiing off-piste at Klosters in 1988

Source: Times database

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